Member

I shall pick up some points made by the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee in its 38th report. The SLSC supported concerns raised during the consultation process about the timing of the introduction of these regulatory changes. While the new rules came into force on 30 September, the day before the start of the burning season, applications can take up to 12 weeks to process, and only if an appropriate SSSI consent is in place. Even so, a new application may be needed if the original consent specifies a peat depth of 40 centimetres.